Danganronpa 2,5 Despair Will Go On (SYOC)
by FoggedUnrest
Summary: The Future Foundation thought they had finally destroyed the virus made by Junko Enoshima. They thought they had time for a breather in this despair infested world. So how was it possible that a livestream all around the world showed 16 students of Hope's Peak, locked into an european castle and forced to kill each other? (SYOC CLOSED)
1. Introduction

**Prologue**

In the distance screaming could be heard. Someone probably got beaten up. The tragedy spread faster than one could run away after all. It was just a few days ago and already they started calling it the biggest, most awful, most tragic event in human history or short, the tragedy.

We are at the edge of the city, next to a small forest. There in the shadow of the tall trees, a figure is walking holding a crumbled note. The girl walking there had long, dark blue hair that swayed in the breeze. She completely ignored the terrifying noise coming from the fallen city behind her. All she cared about was getting to that cottage in the woods. The location specified in that note in her hands.

It was a cold evening and she shivered a bit. All she wore was a dirty Hope's Peak uniform. She was an Ultimate at that school when the tragedy started. She barely got out, but she made it. After running for days, stealing food from shops, that had already been looted, and simply surviving, she felt kind of proud. Not many made it out. Being the Ultimate Parkour Runner certainly helped in her case. Surviving itself became a chore. But she had a bit of hope left. Three days ago, she found a mysterious note next to her after waking up. That note in her hand.

 _Dear Katsuko Akino,_

 _through rumors I came to know that there are 16 Ultimates, including us both, in this city. I don't think any of us were in the same class, but we are still the same, survivors of the tragedy. That's why I want to arrange a meeting between all of us. I feel like we will be able to survive, together. If you are intrested come to the cottage in the woods in three days. I marked the location down below on the map._

 _-a fellow survivor_

 _PS: You looked quite peaceful sleeping. :) It was refreshing in all of this chaos._

Of course Katsuko wondered, who that creep was that watched her sleep, but they had a point. Even though she would punch them, if she ever found out who did it. So she decided to go to the meetup. It could be a trap, but being alone is way more risky in this world of despair. All she could hope for was that the others wouldn't annoy her too much.

* * *

The Future Foundation was in a uproar. It happened again. Just when they finally were able to save the Remnants of Despair and extinguish the last trace of the virus that infected their programm in the first place. So how was it possible? A livestream projected onto almost all still functioning monitors. 16 students and a sadistic bear. The killing game had begun again. But this time, they didn't even know how to get there...

* * *

Hey there,

welcome to this SYOC of mine. :) Thanks for all the OCs I received. Enjoy reading.~

* * *

 **Rules:**

1\. This SYOC is CLOSED I won't accept any more OCs. I won't accept OCs that were send to me half finished and the other half send after the deadline either.

2\. There may be some timegaps between chapters. I'm in university so there are some times when I simply don't have motivation or time to write.

3\. The most important rule: Have fun while reading. :)

\- The bugs now seem to come from time to time, but only rarely. Thanks for reading. :3 -

* * *

This SYOC is closed. The final cast is out!

I got enough OCs to fill up the cast entirely and that makes me incredibly happy. I seriously did not think I would receive enough submissions. Thats why I'm really grateful to all people submitting or even just reading. Seriously, thanks so much!


	2. Side: Naegi Spinoff Prologue

Hey there, as you can see: My deadline has expired and I didn't receive enough submissions for this SYOC. But since I'm pretty stubborn I refuse to give up on this. I thank all six of the amazing people who took the time to send me OCs. I changed up the rules a bit. Also you can see the accepted OCs under the prologue now. This SYOC will happen whether I get enough submissions in the next week or not. And since I don't want to leave you with just this note here, I wrote the prologue of a little spinoff. I call it: **Danganronpa 2,5 Despair Will Go On: Side Naegi** Just as I teasered, I want to include what is going on with the Future Foundation. Therefore I'm borrowing Naegis mind to explore that in a little spinoff series. I will post spinoff chapters every now and then. Though they will be a bit shorter than usual chapters. And they are still relevant to the story. If you don't want to, you don't need to read them though. Hope you all have a nice day. :) (also I can't add blank lines so yeah thats that I'll figure something out until the next chapter)

* * *

It was a year after the tragedy. The first killing game begun. It was truly horrific. Yet hope prevailed and the mastermind was defeated. The survivors successfully escaped Hope's Peak Academy and joined forces with the Future Foundation. This event send ripples through the entire despair infested world. Like a little parasite, hope sparked to life once again. That hope even caused a programm to rehabilitate the Remnants of Despair to be developed. That Program also known as the Neo World Program was supposed to be the link between hope and the hearts of the world. But despair also had the characteristics of a parasite. A computer virus made by the defeated mastermind managed to infest the program. And just like that the second killing game started. But yet again hope proved to win in the end. The survivors were yet again rescued by the Future Foundation. And the attempt to strenghten despair had failed miserably. The Future Foundation finally had eradictaed all traces of the evil mastermind and could focus on defeating despair once and for all.

Or so they thought.

A month after the last rescue everything seemed rather peaceful. As peaceful as that chaotic world could get at least. Even the Future Foundation headquarters were peaceful for once. In the private quartes of someone, a brown haired boy laid in a soft bed. His ahoge was the only feature on him that really stuck out, otherwise the boy seemed like the average of average people. That person was Naegi, a survivor of the first killing game, having a day off. He quietly rested in his room, enjoying the peaceful silence. Yesterday he finally finished a two week long mission to bring hope to a certain city. That city was needed for strategic purposes. But he just couldn't stop thinking about it. For once he managed to find a strange sight. Even though he didn't think anything could surprise him anymore. Yet, why was it that the sight of that place irritated him to this extend? Naegi sighed and turn around on his bed. He had to get those thoughts out of his head. It was his day off after all. Tomorrow he would have to go back to help the Remnants of Despair recover further. Attending strategic meetings wasn't his favorite task either... Shaking his head, he grabbed his pillow and burried his head in it. And he found his thoughts yet again drifting back to that forest.

While on his mission Naegi set up camp in a small forest next to the city. Being given the task of collecting some firewood, he ventured further into the forest. The sun was already setting so he wanted to hurry with this job. After collecting some wood in the eerie silence of the forest, he wanted to go back to the camp. The night had already begun. It was almost too dark to see. But a certain something caught his eye. Behind the trees he saw a small lake. Slowly creeping nearer, he marveled at the beauty of the place. The moon reflected in the water, the forest enclosing around the small lake and a little hut near the edge of the water. It was so peaceful. Like the tragedy never happened. He set down the wood. He would get it later and bring it back. The urge to stay there just a bit longer and maybe inspect the little hut was stronger than his desire to return fast. Maybe someone else was taking refudge from the despair there. It looked peaceful enough.

Thinking back, Naegi could hit himself. How could he be so stupid? In this world there was just no way that something so peaceful existed. But back then he didn't think the situation through. Reclessly he approached the little hut and opened the door. It wasn't locked. For a reason. Whoever took refudge there was apparently... brutally slaughtered. Naegi shuddered at the reminder of that horrible scene. The walls table, cupboards, chairs, beds, everything was covered in blood. On the table were sixteen almost identical letters. They too were covered in blood and therefore not readable. But parts of some of them were still readable. Apperantly they were addressed to sixteen Hope's Peak students. Some of the names were readable. He recognized some of them. He had read them in files about the school. There were still some students that were never proven to be dead. These names were with the 'missing' people.

The tragic thing was, he didn't know whether these letters were ever send or not. The blood in the hut was so much, the one who did the bleeding was sure to be dead. There was the possibility of the sender being the victim, or the sixteen students, or all seventeen of them. But why.

Why weren't there any corpses?


	3. Final Cast!

**The final cast is here! Thanks so much for the submissions. I'm very sorry to all the ones that I couldn't accept. I enjoyed every single OC very much so thank you! It was really hard to decide.**

 **Also keep in mind that any OC can get any role. Even if you wrote „my OC would never murder anyone" or something like that, your OC could become a murderer. This is that kind of fandom you wrote an OC for, so you should have known that already. :)**

 **Edit: I sadly have to inform you that the first chapter might take some time longer. I want to introduce all OCs in that chapter, so it is getting really long. It will be multiple times longer than normal chapters, since I want to give every OC the time they deserve and need to get to know them a little. Also I have exams coming up so I have to attend to that aswell. I seriously don't know when it will be out, but it should be before march. I'm sorry for the long wait. In return, I will try to make it worth it. Thank you for your patience. :)**

 **Edit 27-02-2018: It will still take me at least one or two weeks to finish the chapter.**

 **Edit 24-03-2018: The chapter is about 94% done. Hopefully I'll get it done tomorrow. If not it will have to wait another week, since I won't be at home. But I really doubt that I won't get it done in one or two days working on it. So it should take at most 8 or 9 days from now. The chapter will be around 10k long. So if I dont get it done by April 1st I'll put the introduction up in two chapters, so you can at least read the first half of it. So either way, there will be an update before or on April 1st!**

 **Edit 01-04-2018: I just need to write one more conversation. I already wrote and edited the rest of the chapter so it's a thing of one or two hours. But I'm too tired right now, and I don't see a reason to split the chapter when I'll definitly get it done tomorrow anyway. Therefore the chapter will come out in less than 24 hours after this edit. Thank you so much for your patience.**

 **Cast:**

...

Female:

1\. [Ultimate Parkour Runner] Katsuko Akino - by FoggedUnrest

2\. [Ultimate Ballet Dancer] Ayumi Kaho - by luluthefox

3\. [Ultimate VFX Artist] Ayaka Ikeda - by Crimson Spider Lily

4\. [Ultimate Spokesmodel] Irina Lupei – by Alpahaca

5\. [Ultimate Ringmaster] Airi Haruki – by TheAmazingSwolfie

6\. [Ultimate Geographical Psychologist] Miku Akiyama – by Abitat Eco

7\. [Ultimate Waitress] Kano Nakajima – by BIBOTOT

8\. [Ultimate Ice Sculptor] Klementina Aki – by JessJess1818

...

Male:

1\. [Ultimate Hypnotist] Suingu Tokei - by kennysdead

2\. [Ultimate Voice Actor] Haiyu Onsei - by liammarklh88

3\. [Ultimate Strategist] Calem Kurogane - by GrandmasterCastiel

4\. [Ultimate Wood Carver] Daiki Hayashi - by emilio. Rubilar. 75

5\. [Ultimate Back Alley Doctor] Toboe Kureshi – by Mystique Monroe

6\. [Ultimate Scavenger] Kisami Kawanari – by AmaryllisGreen

7\. [Ultimate Monk] Okami Komiya – by Agrael

8\. [Ultimate Host] Jiro Jun – by CandleFire45

...


	4. Chapter 1: meeting the cast

Hey! It's finally done. I really admire people who write chapters this length like it's nothing. Well anyway, I hope I did all your OCs justice. Some personalities were kind of similar, so I tried my best to make each one as individual as I could. I also ended up reading this chapter so often that I started hating it, so I don't know if this is acceptable. :D If I messed something up with your OC or you have any questions (even though I don't guarantee answering all of them) please PM me! Anyway, enjoy. And sorry again for the two 1/2 month wait.

* * *

It was dark. Where was she? What happened to her? Katsuko just couldn't remember. The last thing she remembered was walking to the meeting. That damn meeting. The hut looked so peaceful next to that lake. It was around noon, the sun reflected in the water. It was a truly beautiful scenery. She walked towards the hut. As she approached further, she could hear noises coming from it. There were multiple voices talking inside. But as soon as she opened the door, she lost consciousness. It was a trap after all. Now she felt stupid. She probably was the only one who would fall for something this simple. There was no way there were 16 Ultimates still alive in that city. But it wouldn't do any good thinking about what already happened. She should focus on the situation. Katsuko got up. Apparently she was left unconscious lying on the floor. Stumbling through the darkness, slowly creeping forward, she held her hands out to hopefully feel a wall. Suddenly she heard footsteps approaching. Instantly she forced herself to stay as quiet as possible. She still didn't know what her situation exactly was. The only thing she knew was, that it was bad. In addition to the steps she could hear light humming. A slightly deep, rough voice. Did they have a cold? The sound came exactly from the direction she was walking towards. Her heart was beating faster. What if that was her kidnapper? What if it was a serial killer? What if she was already dead? What if-

„Oh, look what I found this time.", a bored voice said.

Light flooded into the room. In front of Katsuko a door had opened. She blinked a few times, eyes getting adjusted to the light. In the frame stood a person. They were only slightly smaller than herself. Rather slim. Slowly she could make out details. It was a boy. He had brown eyes and short, messy black hair. Katsuko notices his lips being chapped. The guy wore a baggy red jumper with some sort of map on it. On his back a huge backpack, he held an old looking oil lamp. Her eyes wandered down. He wore black trousers with multiple pockets as well as blue sneakers. Was he some kind of explorer?

„Done checking me out? Who the hell are you anyway?", the boy said in his husky voice. He was definitely the one that had been humming. Now looking up again, Katsuko noticed that he wore a black beanie on top of his head and had quite the bored look on his face.

„I'm Katsuko. Hi.", Katsuko replied bluntly, while looking at her surroundings. She was in some sort of food storage room. All around her were stacks of food and fridges. Behind her was even a ladder going up to another floor. A camera and a monitor, which just looked out of place in the room, were next to the ladder. The whole room was rather large and round as well. The walls were made of stones. It reminded her of some sort of tower. There was also a metal plate that covered part of the wall. There was probably supposed to be a window there.

„Where the fuck are we? And who are you?"

„Ask someone else. I'm Kisami Kawanari, the Ultimate Scavenger, 16 years old. Now, shoo. I was going to explore this place. _Alone_."

- **Kisami Kawanari, Ultimate Scavenger** -

Kisami looked rather displeased at the idea of someone else being near him.

„So another Ultimate, huh? Were you invited to that meeting as well? I'm the Ultimate Parkour Runner by the way.", Katsuko asked nicely. She completely ignored the boys attitude. In fact, she liked people like him. They were more unlikely to just be pretending. They were also often cautious, just like her. Apparently being that kind of person, she could see how he was able to survive in the harsh reality of the tragedy.

„Just when I thought I got rid of the clingy one...", 'that kind of person' mumbled. Oh, so they weren't alone after all. That could be good or bad news.

„Hey, I'm still in bit of shock since I just woke up after getting kidnapped. And you seem to be in the same situation as I am. Sooo... Could you please tell me what you found so far?", Katsuko decided it was best to ask directly, sounding just a little bit sarcastic.

„Just because we are in the same situation, doesn't mean I have to share information. But I guess I can tell you that we are pretty much locked in here. This is some sort of castle. The ceilings are a bit higher than usual. And there are no exits so far. Now leave me alone."

So no exits, no way to escape. They were at least three people. Maybe they could figure something out. But that meant dealing with difficult people. Ultimates were always difficult in some way. Herself included. She needed an escape plan. Maybe, if she found something like a pickaxe, she could make a hole into the wall. Then again that camera over there probably was to watch them. So she probably should avoid doing suspicious things like trying to break a hole into the wall.

Whilst Katsuko was lost in her thoughts (again), Kisami had moved through the room, climbing up the ladder. He finally chose to ignore the bluenette girl he had found. Said bluenette snapped out of her thoughts and decided to leave him be and go explore the place herself. Maybe even finding 'the clingy one', even if she really didn't want to.

Entering the new room, Katsuko was met with a kitchen. Looking around, she noticed that the kitchen was partly in a medieval style and partly modern. At least in this room were some lamps installed. There also was a monitor and a camera, just like in the storage-tower-room she woke up in. And while the utensils all seemed to be taken right out of the medieval age, the oven, the sink and some other things were modern and pretty new looking. On the left side, next to the door leading to the storage tower was a huge, wooden working space with plenty of cupboards to store stuff. Over it were some metal platings covering the wall. It looked like the windows here were covered up as well. On the right side from where she was standing was the oven alongside the sink and some more cupboards. There was also a shelf holding some old cooking books. Some utensils were hanging from hooks on the wall. On the opposite wall of the storage tower was a door leading into another room. She could hear two voices talking to each other coming from there. On the right wall of the room, left to the sink was another door leading to a more quiet room. Katsuko decided, that she could talk to the others later and went to check out the quiet room first.

Looking around she noticed that she entered some kind of dining hall. In the middle of the room was a long table. She counted that there were chairs for 18 people around said table. On her left was an old looking suit of armour. She noticed that the only source of light in the room were three huge chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. On the other side of the room, behind the other end of the long table was a second door. Left to it some old portraits and two flower pots decorated the room. Here as well a monitor and a camera were present. There were no covered up windows in this room, which let Katsuko to believe that this room was in the middle of the building.

All this examining of the left and the middle of the room went by very quickly. Since on the right side, next to one of three antique looking cabinets, stood a petite girl. The girl was searching through one of the drawers. She was unbelievably pretty, her looks making her really cute. Katsuko, slightly envying her, looked at her more closely. The first, most noticeable thing about her appearance was definitely the bright pink eyepatch covering up her eye. She couldn't help staring at it for a few seconds. The next thing she noticed was, that the girls other eye had an unnatural red colour. Maybe contacts? Who knew. The girl was definitely on the shorter side and had equally short hair, that curled itself in brown locks on her head. She wore a green shirt with Hope's Peak Academy's insignia sewn on the arm. Her legs were covered by a black, cute skirt and white stockings that reached up to her thigh. To top it off she wore a white apron and black shoes. For all Katsuko knew, that girl could have just come right out of a maid café. By her looks, especially the insignia, Katsuko quickly came to the conclusion that the girl was the same as her and Kisami. An Ultimate that went to the meet up.

The girl, finally noticing her company, stopped rummaging, turned to Katsuko and started to smile.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't notice you there.", she chirped softly.

"It's fine, really.", Katsuko replied rather monotonous, while glancing at the eyepatch.

"What a strange situation we found ourselves in, right? I hope we can all be friends though. Oh. Where are my manners? I'm Kano Nakajima. The Ultimate Waitress, to your service."

- **Kano Nakajima, Ultimate Waitress-**

"Ah, okay then. Katsuko Akino, Ultimate Parkour Runner.", Katsuko still monotonous answered the cheerful girl. Her eyes again travelling to the brunettes eyepatch.

"That is such a cool Talent. You are probably a strong kind of person right? So nice." , the soft voiced girl tried very hard to have a friendly conversation with Katsuko, but it was kind of like talking to a wall. Katsuko was way too distracted by the girls cool eyepatch. It made her look like a fluffy, cute, pink, maid pirate. And that thought made Katsuko envy the girl a bit more than before. She liked pirates. She thought they were cool. Movies with pirates in them were always her favourite. Finally the other girl noticed the obvious stare and broke the bluenette out of her thoughts through a sudden change in attitude.

"Do not stare at it too much. My left eye is blessed by God. It was thoroughly purified and if a mere mortal were to gaze at it, it's divine holiness would disappear. To protect this divine artefact that is my left eye, I wear a sacred eyepatch for protection. To stop polluting gazes directed to it's pure depths." , Kanos aura of cheerfulness had changed to one of absolute seriousness. This led Katsuko to deadpan.

"Well, okay then.", Katsuko didn't even know what to say. Ever since entering Hope's Peak 'Okay then.', was one of the things she often found herself saying. She always knew that Hope's Peak was full of weirdos that were a pain to deal with. This girl seemed to be the perfect example of that fact. Not wanting to associate any further, she decided to just not deal with it and leave the room through the door she discovered when first entering the room. As she turned to leave, the other girl cried out.

"Wait please. Did I upset you somehow? I didn't mean to upset you. Sorry. Let's be friends. Okay?", Kano whimpered. Katsuko halted for a second, tuned to face Kano, blinked and made up her mind.

"No.", then she left, leaving the waitress behind.

She entered a long hallway. To her left was one of the ends, a door firmly denying her view into the room. She heard the voices from earlier. She still didn't want to talk to them, so she decided to examine the hallway first. On the other side from the door she just emerged from, were two doors that were very obviously doors to two bathrooms. On one door the figure of a girl was carved in and on the other the figure of a boy. The carvings looked very old fashioned. Just like the rest of the hallway. The large ceiling and old paintings, that decorated the hallway, didn't help. As didn't the multiple candles, held onto the walls that lighted up the hallway. No modern lamps anywhere. And even here were monitor and camera. A little further down the hallway on the side of the bathrooms was another door. After that door the hallway made a slight curve, so Katsuko couldn't see any further than that for now. She decided to skip the bathrooms and try to open the other door. It was firmly locked. Now in the spot where the hallway bent, she could see further down. A bit further were two doors that were facing each other on opposite sides of the hallway. Then there was a round wall sticking into the hallway, like a tower. To it led a door with a drawing of a black and white bear and the word "Monotower". After the tower the hallway made another curve.

Walking to the two doors she first saw, she tried opening them just to find both of them locked as well. As she started to walk to the weird door, a guy walked up to it first, apparently coming from the other side of the hallway. He stopped in front of the door, tried opening it, found it locked and started examining it. Very thoroughly. The boy was probably close to her own height and had short, brown hair. He didn't look completely japanese. Maybe he was half-japanese? He wore black framed glasses, as she came a bit closer she noticed that his eyes were blue. He wore a simple black shirt under a blue jacket with white cuffs and a Hope's Peak logo. His hand reaching out to touch the door, Katsuko noticed a black, fingerless glove adorning his right hand. On the glove she could make some sort of white dragon symbol out. His pants were khaki and he wore black converse shoes.

"Hello.", Katsuko greeted simply. The slightly taller guy seemed startled for a moment, before he turned to greet her back.

"Good evening. Or is it evening? We can't really tell, haha.", the guy replied friendly.

"Eh, yeah. I guess that's the case. I take it, you are an Ultimate as well? ", Katsuko thought the guy seemed normal so far, but his friendly manner annoyed her just a little bit. She still can't believe that anyone who behaves nicely can survive the tragedy. You had to steal, rob, beat people down. It was survival of the fittest. Friendly just didn't work.

"Yes, I am. Name is Calem Kurogane. The Ultimate Strategist."

- **Calem Kurogane, Ultimate Strategist** -

A strategist could come in handy. They didn't know what their situation was exactly, so someone who could make plans was very much welcome. He probably survived thanks to his talent. Calem was definitely someone Katsuko could at least tolerate. Staying on his good side could proof to have a few benefits.

"Nice to meet you, I'm the Ultimate Parkour Runner, Katsuko Akino.", she introduced herself, trying to sound friendly.

"I'm sorry to ask such a weird question, but what would you do if this door suddenly exploded?", the strategist asked randomly. Ah, right. He was still a student at that school.

"I'd probably die.", she bluntly replied. The guy nodded.

"That is true, there is no effective strategy to defend against an unexpected explosion right next to you." Katsuko blinked, stared at him a second and decided to look around the corner instead. There, instead of a hallway was an entrance hall. Easily identified by the huge wooden gate, which was most likely locked. It was located right in the middle between the "Monotower" and what looked like another tower. In the middle of the room was a staircase going up to a second floor, but there was a metal barrier blocking off those stairs. The room was decorated by various potted plants and benches. Just like the dining hall was it illuminated by a huge chandelier. On the opposite side of the gate was another hallway, leading into the building. Next to it was also a door, that lead to some sort of chapel, recognizable by the huge cross hanging on the door. There also were five other people talking to each other.

"Miss Akino? Are you distracted? Maybe we should have this conversation at a later time?", Calem politely offered.

"Oh, sorry. I just haven't looked at the entrance hall yet. Are we in some kind of castle?", she wanted to confirm the information given by Kisami and now was the best time for it.

"Yes, it would seem that way. The walls are made out of stone, there are multiple towers, most of the furniture is old fashioned and the high ceilings as well as the candles are clear characteristics of a castle.", Calem gave a brief summary of the clues that led to the conclusion. Accepting it, Katsuko nodded.

"Maybe I should introduce myself to the others...", Katsuko was reluctant. She had enough interactions with people for now. But the situation wouldn't let her have some peace and quiet.

"That may be beneficial. There are at least nine others besides us two, as I already introduced myself to that number of people. I have a feeling, that all the people that got a letter for the meeting are here. I take it, you went to the hut as well, just like all the others I already questioned.", he concluded calmly.

"Yeah. Well, I'll go then. I'll probably see you later. Looks like we are locked in after all."

"Let's talk later.", he agreed before going the way Katsuko came from. She just stood there, watching him go and wondering if he is the most normal one she will meet. His random question threw her off for a bit, but other than that he was okay.

She glanced at the other people again. Two were talking near the huge entrance gate and three were next to the, apparently locked, chapel. She decided to approach the ones at the gate first, they were closer.

They were close in height, though both definitely taller than Katsuko. One was a girl, she had longer hair. It was jet black and straight. Her eyes were light blue. The girl was rather pale, slim and had a long neck. She wore a black, long sleeved shirt and a black skirt that looked like it was made for dancing. Katsuko really didn't know a thing about fashion. That's why she herself just wore the normal Hope's Peak Academy Uniform and a pair of blue sneakers. Anyway, the girl wore a pair of what looked like black ballet shoes and black tights underneath her skirt.

She was talking to an energetic looking guy. He seemed to have at least some muscles and on his arm he had a tattoo which she couldn't read very well from where she was standing- oh he moved a bit. "Mr. Fun" was what was tattooed on the guys arm. Well to each their own. His eyes were almost the same shade of blue as the girls. His hair was short and made of light brown waves. His clothing was pretty simple. He wore a white dress shirt with a light brown vest and a red bowtie and dark-washed jeans. While still talking to the girl clad in black, he turned a bit and noticed Katsuko standing in the entrance to the hallway.

"Hey there! Come over here! Nice to meet you!", he yelled. The guy was loud. She was already looking forward to escaping from this, hopefully quick, introduction. But even though she was constantly complaining inside her head, she headed over to the two.

"Hello, my name is Ayumi Kaho. I'm the Ultimate Ballet Dancer. I hope we get to know each other better.", the girl nicely introduced herself.

- **Ayumi Kaho, Ultimate Ballet Dancer** -

The guy just nodded. Then he had a huge smile and gave his own introduction.

"Jiro Jun! The Ultimate Host! All these candles in this place remember me of something... candle... candlelight? No that wasn't it, even though I wouldn't mind a nice candlelight dinner with either of you ladies. ANYWAY! Lets all get along and have some fun while we still can!"

- **Jiro Jun, Ultimate Host** -

Yes he was way too noisy for Katsukos taste. The girl wasn't any better though. She fell into the "How did you survive the tragedy?"-category. Just like, what was her name again? The maid pirate. Right, her name was Kano. Though in Ayumis case it probably had to do with her having a physical talent. Jiro probably just bothered everyone until no one even wanted to beat him up anymore. Yes, that was a good theory. She only just met the two, but Katsuko was pretty confident in her quick analysis of them. They both seemed like overly nice people in their own ways.

"Ultimate Parkour Runner, Katsuko Akino, hi.", she introduced herself quickly.

"Nice talent. Parkour running sure is an interesting sport.", Ayumi replied, now sounding genuinely interested in Katsuko. She, not knowing how to respond just said thanks.

"You know, living in a castle might not be so bad!", Jiro beamed. He excessively gestured to the room.

"I think it's best if we keep calm and work together! And beside the slight darkness, everything is rather comfortable here isn't it? So why panic?", he encouraged. While he did have a point, all Katsuko saw was an idiot. Jiro didn't seem to have the slightest bit of caution.

"I agree. We should all work together towards our common goal. To do that we should wait patiently and avoid panicking at all costs.", Ayumi agreed. That didn't make any sense to Katsuko. How are you supposed to 'work towards a common goal' by waiting?

"Katsuko, I'm interested. How did you become the Ultimate Parkour Runner? Do you regularly train?", Ayumi questioned. Was this really the time? Katsuko mentally sighed before she decided to play along for now. Maybe that will get her the opening she needed to make a quick exit.

"Actually, no. I don't train regularly. It's too bothersome. And how I was scouted is even a mystery to myself. There aren't a lot of people who knew about me back then. At least I think so.", Katsuko replied truthfully. Back then she didn't really do anything to attract attention. It came as a real surprise when that letter came.

"That's intriguing. But I think you should make good use of your talent and train it to the maximum.", Ayumi murmured, a bit disappointed for some reason. Jiro, picking up on the slowly increasing awkwardness of the situation, quickly run towards Ayumi and threw an arm around her shoulders.

"Isn't it amazing?! Such differences between us Ultimates makes it that much more interesting! Let's go search for a poltergeist in this castle later! That will be fun!", his energetic words making Ayumi smile slightly. Easily diffusing awkward situations. Katsuko couldn't help but take notice of the guys skills. It was obvious why he was the Ultimate Host. Yet, they were both too careless.

"You both are pretty relaxed, considering the situation.", Katsuko was a little sceptical. Didn't they realise? Were they just that stupid? She didn't know. The others she talked to at least seemed a little bit tense, now that she thought about it. Except for Kisami, who was just straight out cautious. Rightly so. But these two... Ayumi let her guard down ever since she showed interest in Katsukos talent and Jiro didn't appear to have a guard to begin with.

"Hm, I just don't see the benefit in panicking in this situation.", Jiro told her. Ayumi, silently agreeing, just nodded her head.

"It's absolutely disgusting to lock us in like that, but we shouldn't be too rash yet.", was her input. Katsuko couldn't agree. It was a different thing entirely to stay on guard or to panic and be rash.

„I don't know. The whole situation just irritates my sense for danger. Anyway, I'll go over there. I haven't introduced myself to them yet. Later." Jiro and Ayumi said their goodbyes, before Katsuko headed across the room, to where the other three were talking a few minutes ago.

Looking over, she noticed one of the three missing. Left were a guy and a girl. The guy had green eyes, and slightly greasy dark brown hair. It was styled in a quiff, some strands of his hair hanging into his forehead. He had a slight tan and was as muscular as Jiro was. He wore a light blue dress shirt underneath a simple brown sweater. To that he wore multiple accessories. A bracelet on his right and a watch on his left arm, reading glasses hanging from the pocket of his sweater and a silver cross pendant around his neck. His legs were covered by dark brown dress pants and black shoes.

His conversation partner was a small, thin girl that at first glance looked pretty average. She had a few freckles adorning her face and grey eyes. Her hair was a dull brown, greyish colour and a bit over her shoulders. It was braided into two messy braids and her bangs were cut off to end just above her eyes. She wore some kind of purple top with an oversized blue and white jacket. Apparently she found it fashionable to roll up her sleeves to her elbows. The top was tucked into the black, high-waisted shorts she wore. She, just like the guy she was talking to, also wore multiple accessories. A bunch of colourful bracelets on her right wrist, a silver choker made out of a chain. From it dangled another, shorter chain with some sort of diamond shaped stones on it. She also wore star shaped earrings and some black rings. Her feet were tucked away in high heels. All in all both of them had that average person, innocent look about them.

She walked up to the guy and started to speak.

„Excuse me, I'm kind of just introducing myself to everybody here, so nice to meet you." The guy just ignored her. How rude. Meanwhile the girl turned to her and spoke back.

„Hello there! Nice to meet you. I'm the Ultimate VFX Artist, Ayaka Ikeda. Oi, Haiyu don't be a little bitch. Stop ignoring her."

- **Ayaka Ikeda, Ultimate VFX Artist** -

The rude guy, Haiyu, was noticeably startled by what Ayaka said and turned to face Katsuko.

„I'm terribly sorry madam. I didn't see you there.", he said in a deep, overly sad and apologetic sounding voice.

„It's fine. I'm Katsuko Akino, the Ultimate Parkour Runner.", she said while casually scratching her neck with one hand.

„Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Akino. My name is Haiyu Onsei, Ultimate Voice Actor."

- **Haiyu Onsei, Ultimate Voice Actor** -

„Where is the other person you were talking with?"

„You mean Airi? She went to check out the doors down this hallway, didn't believe Jiro when he told her they were all locked.", Ayaka said pointing to the hallway behind her and then across the room to Jiro. It looked just the same as the one Katsuko had walked through earlier. Candles, doors and a few old paintings. Though it seemed to make a sharp left turn. In the turn she could see metal plates signalling closed off windows. So the hallway went from the entrance hall all the way to the other side of the building and then went alongside the outer wall.

„As I was saying Haiyu, this reminds me of that one anime! You know, the one you voiced in. With those naked giants. They were fucking creepy.", Ayaka chatted. Naked giants? Sounds weird, even for an anime.

„Oho, I see. But how exactly does it remind you of the situation?", he sounded really surprised. Did he always amplify the emotion he was feeling whilst talking? It was weird.

„We are locked inside walls and there is a threat we don't know anything about. The show was so awesome tho."

"True. My favourite part was the scene in the forest. When they tried luring the giant into a trap."

"Oh, yes that part was really cool." Katsuko was lost. She knew they were talking about some anime, but she didn't watch the show.

"Uhm, which show are you talking about?", she wasn't really interested and it was obvious by her tone, but Haiyu didn't seem to notice. He was visibly happy about her not actually existing interest.

"We were talking about Defend Against Giant! It's a great show, you should watch it.", was his enthusiastic reply. Ayaka shook her head.

"Dude, she isn't actually interested." Did she have to say it this bluntly? Now Haiyu looked disappointed.

"Oh. Sorry then. But Ayaka, I really enjoyed voice acting in that anime.", he quickly changed the topic. He seemed really embarrassed. Ayaka played along.

"Yeah, it was easy to tell. The voices were epic and so was the animation.", Katsuko awkwardly stood there, just listening to them and scratching her neck. She couldn't join the conversation anyway. And her last attempt was a huge failure.

"It truly was."

They continued talking about the show. Katsuko couldn't keep up with their talk. Not being able to join in on the conversation was really annoying. It didn't take long before she completely tuned out and started looking around instead.

Glancing into the hallway, she saw a girl coming around the corner. She was very short and had a flashy appearance. Her hair was in a wavy ponytail reaching her collar and had a light purple colour. She had grey eyes and a playful expression. Her face was decorated by silver glitter, which was also present in her hair alongside star hair clips. Wow, she really didn't hold back with being flashy. Her attire was like she came out of some kind of show, she wore a white dress shirt under a black tailcoat that was covered in sequins. The red bow tie she wore also had sequins on them. She wore simple black pants and... a top hat. It had a red stripe around it. Her hands were in a pair of purple gloves and she was carrying a baton. All in all the girls fashion sense was clearly not meant for everyday wear, according to Katsuko. It was almost certain that the clothes had something to do with the girls talent, but Katsuko wouldn't be surprised if Ultimates wore flashy things just because they can. As she came a bit closer to Katsuko it became obvious that the girl didn't get a lot of sleep, since she had dark circles under her eyes. The girl approached their little group.

"No way, Haiyu. The special effects in that movie were shitty. Absolute garbage!", Ayaka yelled. So they were done talking about weird anime and changed to movies now?

"I liked it.", the voice actor moped. He did it again. He sounded like a pouting child that didn't get its candy. In that moment the other girl arrived.

„Who would have thought! What a surprise. You guys wereee... right! All the doors in that hallway are locked. And! As the sparkling ringmaster approaches, she noticed a mysterious bland looking girl standing with the group, the only thing special about her the blue hair. Said girl is curiously staring at Airi, who reached the group! Hey, guys. Care to introduce me?"

- **Airi Haruki, Ultimate Ringmaster** -

Katsuko remembered there was one word to describe people like her... She got it! Obnoxious. Holy lord, Airi was worse than Jiro. Her introduction alone showed that she was a flashy person. The kind Katsuko got along with worst. Since she was a person craving peace and quiet. Not that she had any since the tragedy.

"This is Katsuko Akino. She is the Ultimate Parkour Runner. Isn't that such a fascinating talent? Truly mesmerising.", she got introduced by Ayumi, who joined their conversation along with Jiro. Who simply held a hand up in greeting.

"Yo!", he greeted.

"Wow! That's a really flashy talent, to be able to perform such tricks while running, you could certainly entertain people!"

"Ehh, yeah, thanks I guess...", it was weird for Katsuko to receive compliments on her talent. Back in Hope's Peak her class had been full of physical talents, so she didn't think her talent was too special. Now that she thought about it, she had no clue what happened to most of her classmates after the tragedy. She only knew that the ones she did know about all died. Back then they fought their way out of the school, some of them jumping in to take hits for each other or pushing another in the way to take the hit in order to safe themselves, running away over their friends corpses and the screams-

"And you really went to check all of them? Airi, I already told you they were locked! Haha.", Jiro laughed.

"Sorry about not believing you! It's just so frustrating to be locked in here!"

"I know how you feel but we gotta just wait it out a bit for now.", it seemed Jiro and Airi were getting along just fine. The other three, Ayaka, Ayumi and Haiyu just watched them, smiled a bit and had comments of their own every now and then. After a few minutes Katsuko was highly uncomfortable. She desperately tried coming up with a good excuse to get away from the group. Being straight up rude wasn't her style, okay, at least most of the time. Oh right she didn't check out the bathrooms yet.

"Excuse me guys, but I'm gonna go now. I want to check out the bathrooms." , she excused herself.

"In that case, I'll go with you! I really need to use the bathroom.", Airi replied happily, hand clutching her baton. Plan getting away: failed. Katsuko reluctantly nodded. She was pretty sure that her displeasure was clearly showing on her features. But if Airi noticed something, she didn't let it show. Instead she grabbed Katsukos hand shouted a quick goodbye and dragged her along towards the hallway. Surprisingly they walked in silence for a bit, before Airi broke the silence.

"You know, I think you're pretty tense. Understandable in this situation, but nothing has happened yet. I don't think we are in immediate danger, so how about we try to get along for now?", Airi said, sounding sure of herself. Katsuko thought that the serious person before her may be a whole different person. One she didn't think Airi was capable of being. She had the aura of a leader. Maybe-

"Man they went all out to make it feel like we are in a medieval castle didn't they? Haha, they even resorted to candles to light the hallway and rooms! The only rooms with modern light are the kitchen and the bathrooms! Whoever did this really wants to roleplay or something.", Airi laughed.

Maybe- Airi was the airhead she thought her to be after all. The flashy girl was talking about the lighting out of all things. They had more important things to focus on! She still hadn't said a thing since they started walking. It was getting awkward. She wasn't good at conversations. What is she supposed to say in such a situation?

"Why are you so interested in the lighting?", a question? Was that acceptable? Katsuko sure did hope so. Relief washed over her, as Airi answered.

"Well the best way to make a show more exciting is to have appropriate lighting! A spotlight or flashy blinking lights, green, purple, blue, orange-"

"Okay, okay I got it. So it's to set the mood?", Katsuko tried to keep the conversation going as they approached the door with the carving of a girl.

"Sure is! Pretty sure Ayaka, being the Ultimate VFX Artist, will tell you the same thing! You always need sounds and the right lighting when shit gets real! Oh here we are!", the short girl rambled on. And indeed they had reached the bathroom. Opening the door abruptly, they were greeted by the sight of another girl examining the room.

The room had three toilet stalls, huge mirrors, sinks and towel racks. All in all it looked like a normal modern bathroom. Excluding the monitor and the camera. The girl standing in the middle of the room, checking out one of the towels, was brunette, her hair being wavy and reaching to her shoulders. The sight of her right eye was blocked of by her fringe, which had a single red streak. Her actually visible, left eye was a bright blue and had a rather emotionless expression. She seemed to have a slightly toned build, though what got Katsukos attention was the tattoo of a mountain on the girls left wrist. Her ears were decorated by earrings shaped like flying birds. She wore an amber coloured t-shirt, a dark green bandana with white dots around her neck. Combining this with her light grey pants that were rolled up a bit past her knees, multiple pockets decorated the pants that were stuffed full with something. What completed the look were a pair of brown hiking boots and a sturdy looking backpack. Maybe she was the Ultimate Wanderer?

"Hey there! We met already, didn't we? You were, ehh... Mika! The Ultimate Geometrical Prophet!", Airi exclaimed happily.

-Mika, Ultimate Geometrical Prophet-

"Actually my name is Miku Akiyama. Ultimate Geographical Psychologist. You probably don't even know what that is... whatever. I don't care what you think.", the girl answered stoically.

- **Miku Akiyama, Ultimate Geographical Psychologist** -

"Oh sorry. Excuse me! But I really need to pee right now." Airi pushed past Miku in a hurry to reach the bathroom stalls. Katsuko sighed. At least this girl seemed more relatable for Katsuko than Airi did.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Katsuko Akino the Ultimate Parkour Runner. If I may ask, as someone who knows about geography, do you have any idea where this castle might be located?", she asked softly.

"My talent focuses on interaction of human behaviour and their environment. Not analysis of castles. But if I had to take a guess, probably Europe. It was heavily modified though.", apparently Miku had decided to humour Katsuko for a while. She looked just a bit hostile, though not as much as a certain Scavenger she met first.

"Europe! That's kinda cool isn't it?", Airis voice could be heard from the stall in the middle.

"Modified, how?", Katsuko was curious. While she ignored Airi completely, she was eager to learn more about the place she was confined in. Speaking of confinement-

"The layout of the rooms is unusual.", Miku stated monotonous, "You seem restless." It was true. The confinement made her restless. Uneasy and restless. She wanted to do what she always did when she was in a bad situation. Running away. But the confinement stripped her of her usual approach. It was probably best to not show her weakness yet.

"It's just that I really want to go for a run.", Katsuko stated a half-truth.

"I see.", Miku simply said. She still looked very wary of Katsuko, who returned the mistrust. Miku was probably at least aware of the tragedy's dangers. She didn't dislike people like that. Though it didn't mean that she trusts that person. Miku apparently finished examining the bathroom, since she turned to leave.

"Bye.", she said before leaving the room, not even waiting for Katsuko or Airi to reply. Katsuko, also being satisfied by what she had seen of the bathroom, also turned to leave.

"Katsuko! I'm still here! Wait for me please!", shouted Airi who had heard Katsukos footsteps.

"I need to examine the other rooms. See you later.", she followed Mikus example and left before Airi could protest further. The last thing Katsuko heard was " And then the heartless Katsuko left the ringmaster to pee on her own. Tragic."

Rolling her eyes, Katsuko notices that on her right was the door she didn't went through earlier due to the people that were talking inside. She could still hear the same voices talking, though one more seems to have joined them. Letting out a deep breath, Katsuko told herself that she could do it. Since most rooms were locked there hopefully weren't a lot of rooms left. And therefore not a lot of people. If really everyone that got a letter came to the hut, like Calem had said, then she already met most of them. Bracing herself for more awkward introductions, she opened the door.

The room was lit up by two huge chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. It was a sort of living room. Probably the salon. In the middle of the wall she was staring at, while standing in the doorframe, was a huge fireplace. On the wall next to it were metal plates. It was surrounded by three emerald green sofas, currently occupied by three people. In the right corner stood a huge bookshelf. In the left a plant. On her side of the room were multiple cupboards and chairs. On the left wall was a door, leading to a room that was probably connected to the kitchen. From that room she had heard the voices first. On the right wall there was another door. The whole room was decorated by little flowerpots, a camera, a monitor, paintings and carpets covering the stone floors. It gave the room a comfortable atmosphere.

The three people talking on the sofas didn't notice her entering, due to them being in the middle of a heated discussion about... god?

"The lord loves all his children equally.", inquired the one that was the main factor contributing to this conversation, the guy sitting on the right sofa. The guy had black curls that reached to his shoulders. His eyes were a deep blue and he was constantly smiling. Katsuko thought that it was a little creepy. On his left cheek was a small mole and he had a tan. His slightly muscular arms were visible through his dark blue monk robes. They reached to his ankles and exposed his traditional black sandals. His robes were tied by an equally blue bow around his waist.

"Would you love me like god does, then?", said the guy sitting next to the first one. In fact, he sat very close to the guy. Very close. Katsuko was very sure he was a guy, but he was rather effeminate. His reddish-brown hair, that was parted on the side and reaching to his neck, didn't help. His eyes were big and a golden brown and under his right eye he had a beauty mark. He wore an old, red zipper shirt. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. Silver bracelets hanging from his arms. For pants he wore green cargo pants, his feet covered by dark green military boots. By the behaviour Katsuko witnessed, she concluded that he was most likely "the clingy one". She decided then and there to stay away from him. Though she found him to be extremely good looking. He was her type.

"Honey, you sure are a needy quack doctor.", said a silvery voice. On the left sofa sat a person, Katsuko actually recognised. She wasn't huge on watching TV, but even she realised that the girl sitting there was the famous model Irina Lupei aka Yuka. She often appeared in advertisements.

- **Irina Lupei, Ultimate Spokesmodel** -

Along with Junko Enoshima, was she one of the most famous ones from the model industry attending Hope's Peak. Though the version in front of Katsuko was by far more bored and rude than what was known about her through the media. Irina was a slender girl, half-japanese and, if Katsuko remembered it right, half-romanian. Her eyes were a deep wine red and she had black hair reaching the middle of her back. Her skin was very fair and smooth. She wore a black school blazer with white buttons and a red bow. Underneath the blazer she wore a simple white shirt. Her skirt was grey and was combined with black stockings reaching her thigh and grey school shoes.

"My skills as a doctor are great, woman. Lay off, will you?"

"Being needy is sinful. You should be more humble!", the first guy interjected.

She decided to approach the group.

"Sure they are, honey.", the model replied sounding very bored. She was just sitting there, staring at her nails.

"Hello, there. Nice to meet you.", said the first guy, who had noticed her.

"Hi, I'm Katsuko Akino, Ultimate Parkour Runner. And you are?", she was tired of introducing herself. It was so repetitive. 'The clingy one' looked at her with his huge, innocent looking eyes. He smiled a bit.

"If you would please remember my name, Toboe Kureshi, Ultimate Back Alley Doctor."

- **Toboe Kureshi, Ultimate Back Alley Doctor** -

"This hot buzzkill here is Okami Komiya, the Ultimate Monk.", he continued the introduction enthusiastically.

- **Okami Komiya, Ultimate Monk** -

"Heh, nice one, quack doctor.", Irina threw in from the side. She was bow twirling her hair, obviously still bored.

"I'm gonna pray for both of you.", the monk stated. And indeed. He put his hands together and started muttering to himself. Toboe just ignored it and went on with the introductions.

"And this is-"

"Irina 'Yuka' Lupei. I know.", Katsuko interrupted. She didn't need introductions to people she already knew about. Irina let out a short laugh.

"Oh she heard of me, nice."

"Dear god, please forgive the insolence of this needy doctor and the bored model. They are good people, I swear. They just don't know how to show it properly.", Okami muttered more loudly. He wanted them to hear that. That much was clear. Irina and Toboe noticed too, the latter throwing a pillow in his direction.

"Dude, seriously?", was the comment from Irina.

"I actually don't really believe in god, so this is kind of awkward.", Katsuko said to herself, but the Monk heard it. He was still smiling, which was still creepy.

"Please also ignore this foolish remark of the newcomer. She hasn't heard the voice of god yet.", he prayed. The voice of god? Yeah, right. This guy was useless. Katsuko saw no benefit in befriending him. One less person she had to invest her time in. Katsuko actually had conflicted feelings on god. She didn't believe in him, but she thought it was depressing to think that there is nothing after death. And it was kind of a cute idea that there is someone watching out for you. So she sometimes caught herself praying, even though she really didn't know why. What she really didn't understand was how someone could dedicate their whole life to something like god. Since god was just a nice concept to her. She turned to Toboe.

"Why are you so attached to Okami?"

"What can I say? I have a type. He's hot, tough and amusing. Definitely my type. Though he's a bit of a goody two shoes, but hey nobody's perfect.", Toboe gushed over Okami. Katsuko was sure that Toboe could prove to be useful. But his personality. But he was hot. But he was gay. Nothing wrong with being gay, but Katsuko was disappointed since the guy was hot. Despite his annoying persona. Yeah, she was gonna befriend him. Just because he was gay didn't mean she would stop staring at him. And he was a doctor, a shady one, but a doctor nonetheless. Now that she thought about it...

"This sure is a strange group. A needy doctor, a praying monk, a bored model and myself.", she said out loud.

"Thank you for your thoughts, but we didn't really need them.", came the comment from the spokesmodel. Can she bury herself somewhere? Maybe she could just escape this conversation? There was still at least one or two rooms left...

"I think she's cute thinking that way.", cooed Toboe.

"You know what? Right you are. You don't need my input, so I'll just leave.", Katsuko had made up her mind. Running away always was the best option.

"Be careful on your way. I'll pray for you.", Okami offered. He really was dedicated to that god of his.

"I'm just going to the next room.", she replied. Okami just ignored that and continued praying. Toboe just waved her goodbye and Irina, looking bored, just clicked her tongue and looked away.

Walking towards the door, it opened. Out walked an annoyed looking Kisami, who looked at her, clicked his tongue and went straight to the exit leading to the hallway. Katsuko watched him go and then approached the open door. She entered some kind of training room. On the right were bows and arrows with rubber tips on a rack. Next to them where the monitor and camera that were present in all rooms so far. On the left were three targets and two dummies. Above the targets on the wall and on the wall in front of her were the usual metal plates blocking off a part of the wall. On the right behind the racks was a door. Instead of a corner on the left side behind the targets was another tower. Above the door was a small window and a gatling gun. She probably should avoid trying to go through that door. Right of the door were eight pictures of people. Kisami, Calem, Jiro, Haiyu, Toboe, Okami and the two guys that were standing in the room with her.

The guys stood beside the targets and were talking to each other. The first guy was very lanky with long limbs. He was skinny, pale and looked pretty weird. His short brown hair was parted on the side, but what really stuck out was his crooked nose. He had a permanent smirk, even while speaking and his green eyes darted back and forth. On his hand he had a tattoo of a pocket watch. Katsuko really didn't know what kind of person thought that was a good idea, but whatever. But seriously this guy had issues. He even had a pocket watch hanging out of the pocket of his black blazer. He combined it with black slacks and dress shoes. He also wore a top hat with a white trim and a white tie. Seriously. What was with the top hats. Were they fashionable these days?

Anyway. The other guy had a thin frame. He had light brown eyes and black hair. Underneath his dark brown flannel shirt he wore a white T-shirt. He combined it with grey cargo pants and a backpack. His pockets and his backpack were full with something. It reminded her a lot of Miku. The guy was the complete opposite of the other guy. While the first guy seemed weird and not even a bit normal, this one was the definition of normal. Katsuko decided to introduce herself to them. Might as well get it done with.

"No, it will definitely shoot at us. I don't wanna take any risks.", the weird one said.

"I-I just thought it would be better to-", the second one timidly replied.

"No, thank you. I'm not gonna get myself shot today. Oh, hello there.", the top hat guy noticed Katsuko. She, really not wanting to talk to them scratched her neck and lifted a hand in greeting.

"Hi. Ehm, I don't think it's a good idea to enter this tower either, if that is what you meant.", she voiced her opinion. The timid guy nodded.

"Yeah I just thought it would be better to look everywhere for an exit. Nice to make your acquaintance. My name is Daiki Hayashi, the Ultimate Wood Carver and this guy with the top hat is Suingu Tokei, the Ultimate Hypnotist.", he politely introduced himself and the other guy.

- **Daiki Hayashi, Ultimate Wood Carver** -

- **Suingu Tokei, Ultimate Hypnotist** -

"Very pleasured to meet you, Miss?", Suingu said.

"Katsuko Akino, Ultimate Parkour Runner. The pleasure is mine.", she politely said. While not really believing in hypnotism, she didn't want to take any chances with someone who was talented with knives (Daiki), or someone who could potentially mess with her mind (Suingu). She never experienced someone trying to hypnotize her, so she was only about 85% sure that it was bullshit. But at least these two had clear reasons why they actually had chances during the tragedy. Now that she was closer, she also noticed that Daikis hands were heavily scarred. Apparently he had lots of accidents during his carving career.

"I still wonder what is in that tower to have it guarded by a gun.", Suingu stated, obviously curious.

"Maybe there are your belongings inside. After all next to the door are pictures of you two and a few others.", Katsuko thought out loud. The guys looked sceptical.

"S-sorry but I don't think that's it."

"Me neither." And her idea was already rejected. There was a reason why she usually didn't voice out theories she had. She was horrible with logic. But for that she had the fact that she was cautious and had a reliable gut feeling. It saved her live a few times already. They had Calem who could help with logic, so that was good.

"I'm more curious about the other locked rooms anyway. They have to be locked for a reason.", Suingu sure was curious. His personality was way less flamboyant than Katsuko anticipated. He almost seemed normal personality wise.

"T-that is true. I just hope that we quickly find a way out. Though I doubt we will be able to do anything until the kidnapper makes his move.", Daiki gained more confidence the longer he was speaking.

"Yeah.", Katsuko simply agreed. She still wanted to be on his good side, even if she'd rather just turn around and leave as quickly as possible.

"I agree, this dark atmosphere makes me uneasy. Why aren't there any lights?", Suingu muttered. He was clearly uncomfortable. Maybe he disliked castles and candles?

"To set the mood...", Katsuko mumbled quietly. The other two didn't even notice her saying anything.

"They probably just want to drive us into a corner mentally.", the wood carver proposed his idea.

"That is my job. Oh well, if any of you need to be hypnotized to withstand the mental pressure, feel free to cone to me.", the hypnotist... politely?... offered. Was it polite to hypnotize people just because of something like that? No, thank you. Katsuko couldn't know what he would do with her mind beside what he offered. She wanted him to see her positively, but there was no way she'd agree to that. How did one decline politely again?

"Ehm, thank you for your gracious offer. Yet, I cannot accept it. I'm very sorry sir.", she declined way too polite. Oh well. Better than the option she almost went with instinctively. Which would have been 'Hell nah, Fuck off creep.' Yep. Too polite was better. The other two send her strange looks but quickly got over it.

"Oh well. The offer still stands."

"I think it actually is a good idea for later. We don't need it right now, but we don't know what will happen. Thank you for the offer, Suingu.", Daiki agreed politely. Suingu looked pleased.

"I'll keep it in mind."

"Ah, I'm sorry guys, but there is still somewhere I need to check out...", our protagonist excused herself, again.

"Yes, no problem. See you later.", Daiki nicely said goodbye. Suingu waved his hand.

"Bye, bye."

She quickly left the trainings room and made a quick nod towards the people sitting in the salon. In addition to Okami, Toboe and Irina was Calem occupying one of the sofas. Ignoring the door to the hallway, Katsuko went across the room, approaching the door she didn't check out yet. When entering she was met with some kind of living room. If she trusted her gut and followed the trend, then this was supposed to be an old fashioned sewing room. In the middle of the room was a table fitting up to six people. Behind the table was a couch underneath a metal plate on the wall. There on the couch was a sleeping girl. She probably didn't wake up yet after the kidnapping. Katsuko herself just woke up one or two hours ago. Going back to observing the room she noticed, that in the room were four cupboards next to the door leading to the kitchen. Left to where Katsuko had entered the room, between the door and the cupboard standing on the left, was a desk. On the right of the room was a small cupboard, a couch, a metal plate on the wall, a potted plant and an old grandfather clock. It showed 18:23. The whole room was formed similar to the trainings room. A door leading towards the salon, and another door leading into the building, in this case to the kitchen and a tower on the same side of the building as the tower in the trainings room. This tower also had a door that had a small window and a gun above it. Again were next to the door portraits. This time of Kano, Ayumi, Miku, Ayaka, Airi, Irina, the girl sleeping on the couch and herself. She guessed that she was allowed to enter, but with the gun and all, she didn't want to risk it. Since she was already used to seeing the usual camera and monitor in the rooms, she noticed them last. They were right next to the couch the girl was sleeping on. Speaking of the girl, she just made a noise. She was probably waking up.

From what Katsuko gathered, she concluded that this girl was the last one. Then she could finally finish the introductions. The girl had pale skin and pale blonde hair. She definitely wasn't japanese. Her hair was so bright blonde, it was almost whitish. It was wavy and tied into a braid. It reached almost down to her waist. Her pony covered her forehead. She was rather skinny and slightly toned limbs. She wore a white jacked with fur on her sleeves and hood over a blue shirt. In addition to that she wore a short, white skirt and light blue and darker blue striped socks reaching to her knees. On her feet she had a pair of white leathery snow boots. Her still sleeping face was mostly buried in two different scarves. One was a white wool scarf with light blue strings on the end and the second one was striped in the same colours as her socks and had little knitted snowflakes on it. Noticing that the girl really was waking up, Katsuko quickly looked away. She pretended that she didn't just creepily watch a stranger sleep. She heard her sitting up.

"Where am I?", the girl had a childlike, soft voice. She spoke rather monotonous without the tone of surprise someone would expect.

"Hey there, ehm, I'm Katsuko Akino, Ultimate Parkour Runner and we and a few others were kidnapped.", Katsuko introduced herself awkwardly. Could someone bury her or something? The situation was annoying enough now she also managed to make the bluntest introduction ever. Maybe she should have said it more sensitively.

"I do not like the concept of being kidnapped. Be thanked for the useful information, Ultimate Parkour Runner Katsuko Akino.", said the girl in the same monotonous, emotionless voice as before. She was so formal as well. The girl definitely was strange. Who the hell addressed people with title and full name? Also wasn't it common courtesy to answer with the own name?

"If you don't mind, what's your name?", asked Katsuko. The girl pulled up her hood for some reason.

"Klementia Aki. Ultimate Ice Sculptor.", was the simple answer.

- **Klementia Aki, Ultimate Ice Sculptor** -

"Nice to meet you, Klementia. Uhm, sorry to tell you this but we are kinda locked in here without exits.", The bluenette thought it best to give her the basic information. She also had to be careful, she usually had a feeling about people. Most of the time annoyance, but she just didn't know about this strange human. Something was weird.

"Locked in? Okay. I don't understand why you sound 'worried' while telling me this. I think that was what 'worried' is, right?", the girl asked again monotonous. Worried? Not at all. Terms like cautious, annoyed and awkward were more accurate. The girl obviously was bad at reading a situation.

"Y-yeah. _Worried_." But who was Katsuko to disagree? She wasn't about to not exploit any misunderstandings that worked in her favour.

Suddenly the monitor came to live and a creepy, yet cheerful voice filled the room. It send shivers down Katsukos spine.

"Upupupu. Everyone is awake. Let's get this started! Gather at the Monotower!"

* * *

So, this was the first chapter! I hope you liked it and want more. There is a poll on my profile! I saw others do this, so I wanted to try having you vote for your favorite so far. (at least I hope it works, it's the first time I use the poll thing myself. :D I also hope you like Katsuko, since I don't know if she is a good protagonist or not. I wanted her to be manipulative, annoyed and overly cautious. While writing this chapter I also felt like I was repeating myself a lot, so I tried making the introductions flow as naturally as I could. Anyway. See ya. :3


	5. Chapter 1: King Monokuma

After that announcement Katsuko continued to stare at the monitor. What was even going on? All the insecurities she had when she first woke up rushed back into her head. The introductions had distracted her a bit, but now she was right back to panicking. Meanwhile Klementia just blinked and got up.

"We should go.", she calmly stated. Wasn't she affected at all? No. Klementia was right. They should go. Katsuko felt a bit grateful for having someone that calm nearby. That way her head was tricked into calming down.

"Yeah we should.", Katsuko answered sounding way calmer than she actually was. The truth behind her outer calmness was that she was paying attention to absolutely everything. Even the smallest flicker of the candles almost made her jump. Not only was she locked in with 15 strangers, she was also told to go to a location by some creepy voice. At least they wouldn't kill her immediately. That much was true. She would have never woken up from falling unconscious otherwise. But maybe this really was hell, after all she had to put up with people like Jiro and Airi. Klementia really was some sort of saving grace. On their way to the hallway they didn't speak, but it wasn't awkward either.

Once they stood in front of the monochrome door Katsuko started shivering. She didn't want to open the door. She wanted to turn around. She wanted to run away. She wanted to forget everything. But there was no escape. Biting the inside of her mouth to calm herself down, she slowly opened the door.

The room she entered was full with the people she had met. Klementia and her were the last to arrive. The room was huge and round. In the far back stood a huge throne, decorated with golden and silver ornaments. It had red fabric for comfort. Above the throne hung a camera and a big screen. The throne stood on a slight pedestal. From the throne, two steps down and all the way to the door was a fancy, red carpet. This was obviously a throne room. On the right of the throne was a golden trapdoor leading into the floor. Everyone was rather spread out throughout the room. The biggest groups made of three people.

Kisami and Miku were each standing alone on opposite sides of the room. Katsuko decided to follow their example and just observe quietly on her own.

On the left side of the entrance were Ayumi, Suingu and Toboe talking to each other, well mainly Suingu while Toboe clung to his every word while asking questions such as:

"Can you hypnotise someone to fall in love?"

Katsuko really didn't want to know what Toboe needed that knowledge for. Ayumi just stood there, mostly silent.

In the middle of the room Katsuko saw Okami and Kano calmly talking about something. It didn't seem interesting enough for Katsuko to listen in on their conversation.

A little more to the right stood Haiyu and Ayaka apparently still talking about anime. It was weird how they got along so well.

Near the trap door were Calem, Daiki and Klementia, who had left Katsuko standing near the door alone. They were each trying to open the trapdoor. They were probably analysing this new room.

Lastly was the group Katsuko wanted to stay away from at all costs. Near the throne was the obnoxious trio: Airi, Irina and Jiro. It was hard not to overhear the loud conversation they were having, but Katsuko did her best to blend it out as best as she could.

After a few minutes the monitor in the room suddenly came to life. It displayed a crown and started blasting an annoying tune that was half royal march and half a distorted, childish melody. Everyone stopped their conversation and turned towards the throne.

"What is with this song? It's hurting my ears.", yelled Irina over the music. Some other agreements were heard, though Katsuko couldn't say who it was. The music was just too loud.

Suddenly the throne shook and the seat opened. A strange bear came out and sat down on the now closed throne. What in the world was that? It had to be some kind of plushie. The bears left side was white and almost looked friendly, while the right side was black with a glowing red eye and a disturbing grin. On the bears head rested a crown that looked just like the one the monitor showed earlier. Speaking of the monitor, it had finally shut off once more, therefore also stopping the tune it had been playing. While everyone was still in shock, the bear started speaking.

"Upupu, greetings my bearest subjects! I'm the king of this kingdom, Monokuma the first! Since I'm such a benevolent king, I'll grant you permission to call me Monokuma.", it announced while blushing at the last sentence. Maybe something was wrong with Katsukos eyes. There was no way a plush bear could blush!

"Look the cute bear toy can talk! ", gushed Ayaka. She seemed excited. But Katsuko couldn't understand what for. Something about that talking toy seemed off.

"King? Kingdom? I'm getting a bad feeling.", Katsuko mumbled to herself. Meanwhile some of the others had the same reaction as Ayaka. Monokuma just sat on the throne waving to those people.

"The toy really is adorable.", said a blushing Kano. What was so cute about it? That creepy, glowing, red eye? The permanent, one-sided grin?

"Rude! I'm no toy! But I have to admit I'm rather cute. At least you have good taste.", the bear – Monokuma interjected. Not a toy? Katsuko could only suspect that whoever brought them here is hiding behind whatever that Monokuma was.

"I don't care what it is, but it's creeping me out.", whispered Airi so that only their group could hear it. Since everyone backed away from the throne, there was no way Monokuma understood what she said.

"Don't whisper whispery whispers, or I'll whisper you something!", yelled Monokuma, flashing his claw. A cold shiver run down Katsukos spine. This thing wasn't just creepy. All the survival instincts she had developed over years screamed at her to run. To run and never turn back. To get as far away as possible. She tried to casually back off to the door. She knew it was dangerous to attempt to run. This way she had at least the others to be her meat shield between her and that thing.

"I have a question.", stated Calem rather calmly. Katsuko saw him observing every little gesture the bear made.

"Yes?", said bear answered. His anger was gone as fast as it came.

"Why are there subtitles on the screen?", she heard him ask. Katsuko looked up. There on the screen really were the speaker and the words like a transcript.

"Isn't that obvious? It's obviously so the deaf one can understand me! After all he can't really read my lips now, right?", Monokuma chirped with a cheerful voice. Deaf? Who was deaf? She didn't notice anyone being deaf. If she missed something this major, she could have missed other important information. Katsuko cursed her awkwardness when it came to other people. Maybe if she could read people better she wouldn't even be in this position. After all it's her fault entirely for taking that letter seriously.

"I see.", stated Calem. Did the strategist know who was deaf? Katsuko sure didn't.

"It's true that subtitles are important to such audiences.", admitted Jiro. His words implied that he knew. But who was it? Miku? Daiki? Why couldn't anyone just ask already? Katsuko didn't want to embarrass herself by not knowing. So she put on a neutral face, not letting her thoughts show.

"Deaf? Who is deaf? I talked to everyone normally though.", Daiki asked, sounding just as confused as Katsuko was. She also noticed one or two other letting out a breath of relief at the question.

"That would be me. I'm well versed in lip reading, so please don't worry about it.", Haiyu informed. He didn't seem too bothered by it, but at the same time not keen on talking about it either. What even was he? A deaf voice actor? But being deaf while being good at voice acting was a talent. Katsuko could respect that. It would explain why he didn't answer immediately when she introduced herself. Now that Katsuko knew he was deaf, it was pretty obvious. She looked over to Haiyu, who was currently the centre of attention anyway. She noticed that he indeed had a little machine in his ear. Though she didn't know a thing about deafness and therefore didn't know exactly what it did.

"Really? I didn't even notice.", Kisami said to himself. He was probably just thinking out loud, but a few people heard him.

"Seriously? Even a complete idiot could have figured it out.", scoffed Irina. Kisami shot around to look at her, clearly annoyed.

"What did you just-", growled Kisami. Those two just kept glaring at each other for a while, while others still chatted about different things. Suddenly Monokumas loud voice cut through the chatter.

"Hey! Enough smalltalk. Welcome under my reign, subjects. I'm sorry to inform you that we are still renovating, so not all rooms are available right now. I really hope that will change in the future." The bear was so happy telling them this, Katsuko could see flowers all around him. She guessed that those rooms that had to be renovated were in the next floor and those locked rooms. She felt her anger boil. Just how long did that talking toy expect them to stay there? Katsuko yawned. Why was she tired? It was at most two hours that she was awake. Maybe being unconscious leaves you tired.

"Get to the point why are we here in this castle?", questioned Miku, who stood a little bit away from the rest.

"Do not interrupt your king. You are here because I generously chose you to populate my new country, that at the moment is just this building. May I rule peacefully over you.", the self-proclaimed king stated. Looking incredibly pleased. It was disgusting.

"I don't understand. What is the name of the kingdom?", asked Klementia. Everyone had the unanimous agreement of just silently ignoring that question.

"What do you mean by ruling over us? The only one I serve is god.", was Okamis input. Katsuko had said it before and she would say it again, that guy was awfully devoted. No saving a lost cause. Though Toboe was having different thoughts.

"You know, I'd let you rule me any day.", whispered Toboe just loud enough for Okami and Katsuko to hear, since they also stood at the back of the group. Okami just shot a scandalised look towards Toboe before turning back towards the front. The latter just grinned, pleased with himself.

"What did I say about whispering? By ruling I mean ruling. You know with rules and stuff. Upupu. For example the rule regarding leaving this kingdom." Monokuma was speaking again. He had just said a few sentences until now, but she already had enough of his voice. And she would like to have those rules. He didn't appear the type to forgive rule breaking.

"Rule regarding leaving this kingdom? So we can leave?", asked Ayumi hopefully. At that Monokuma just seemed to start quietly giggling.

"Hey, why don't I get an answer? What is the kingdom called?" Klementia was still ignored. No one wanted an answer to that question. Monokuma finally stopped giggling, before breaking out in full blown laughter. It was a cruel and harsh laugh. Instead of giving a good feeling, it gave a feeling of dread.

"Obviously not! Naive, so naive! In this kingdom there is a strict rule to play a game to please your king! Which is me. The winner gets to leave. Easy to understand, right? Even a pea brained individual such as yourself should understand.", insulted Monokuma. By this point everyone was either pissed, scared or insecure about the situation.

"A game?" Katsuko thought out loud. What kind of game could such a person come up with? Katsuko didn't like any of the options she could think of.

"Why do I feel like I won't like his game?", grimaced Suingu. Katsuko had the same feeling. Like something bad is gonna happen. Being locked in a castle didn't help that feeling at all.

"I don't understand. Why was my question ignored?", inquired Klementia. She sucked at reading the mood, that much was clear.

"Because it was a shitty question to ask. You should ask if the person controlling it is into bears instead. That is a good question.", sneered Irina, fed up with the ice sculptor. After that an eerie silence enveloped the room. No one dared to say anything.

"Enough with the silence! The game I'm talking about is the killing game, of course. Kill one of the citizens, get away with it and you are free to leave! It's all the hype under royals all over the world right now.", giggled Monokuma like he hadn't just told them to kill each other. Katsuko could swear he was blushing with happiness. She needed a few seconds until the words really settled in. She begun trembling. This was bad. Bad bad bad bad. Someone surely was already thinking of killing, right?

"K-killing...", trembled Okami. He was clearly shaken up. His whole body was shivering. As soon as he shivered a little less, he put his hands together and started mumbling prayers, whilst still shivering. It was a little creepy, since even now his smile didn't vanish. It seemed to waver for a few seconds but other than that stayed. Maybe he was planning a murder already. Maybe everyone was planning to murder her. Katsuko was hit with a wave of paranoia. No, no Okami was a monk. He wouldn't. Maybe she should-

"Nononononono. There's no way...", exclaimed the parkour runner. She wouldn't do it. She could never. But could any of the others? Yes, yes she was sure some of them could. She needed to be careful. More so than before. More than ever before. This was more dangerous than anything else she had faced in her life. Here she couldn't run away. The walls themselves felt like shackles on her feet.

"Do you even understand what you are saying? Are you some kind of strange, morbid monster? Or what the heck is you problem? ", Daiki started angrily questioning the cause of his irritation. He was by far not the only one to let his frustration out.

"This... This... This BEAR! ARRRG!", yelled Airi, while punching the wall.

"Is this some messed kind of entertainment to you? Calling it a game? Morals seem to mean nothing to you.", criticized Jiro. He stared down the bear. His tattoo "Mr. Fun" flashed into Katsukos line of sight. Ironically, Jiro was at the moment the entire opposite of what his tattoo implied.

"Shit, I knew I wouldn't like it.", mumbled Suingu. Katsuko could only silently agree. Though simply not liking it may be the underestimation of the century.

"Calm down! Monokuma! Why should we obey you? You can't make us!", protested Ayumi. She was scowling at him. The defiance of the Ultimate Ballet Dancer seemed to calm down some of the panicking others, some of them even going as far as joining in.

"R-right! I refuse to accept any of this. Something must be wrong with your head.", Ayaka agreed with Ayumi.

"Yes. Let's stick together, everyone.", said Haiyu sounding hopeful. The voice actor had his eyes glued to the monitor to read what was said in this mass of angry voices. Monokuma didn't look pleased at these rebellious people. The bear was twitching and you could almost see a dark shadow over his eyes. Katsuko instinctively hid behind the nearest person, which was Toboe. The latter didn't notice, since everyone's attention was on Monokuma.

"What? You won't accept this? I can't make you? I thought people who saw the tragedy with their own eyes, who experienced it for themselves would respond better. I thought you would understand.", his voice was like venom. Icy. Cold. Katsuko shivered. Katsuko understood. The tragedy was a good example of an inevitable bad that befell all of humanity in such a short timespan. It wasn't that farfetched that they wouldn't get any outside help. They were on their own. And they had no way of defending themselves. Monokuma was indeed in a position of absolute power over them. No escape. No running away. Just misery. Just despair awaited them. Anyone who didn't understand after experiencing what they did was an idiot.

"I hate to admit it, but he's right. We have no way out and you have seen the guns in the training room and the sewing room. He probably has more of those and we are unarmed and held captive. It's absolutely dumb to oppose him right now.", Calem calmly explained exactly what Katsuko was thinking. He looked calm but in his eyes screamed out his anger.

"Ah, I like you at least you understand.", said Monokuma. Now having a flowery, happy aura. This bear changed his mood way too much. He could be happy in one second and kill you in the next. He was unpredictable.

"I don't want to be liked by the likes of you.", was Calems immediate response. Even though so much was already said, there was still the group that was shocked in silence before and now finally let their disbelief out.

"Is this asshole for real? I want to punch him so bad. His ugly face is practically begging me to.", growled Miku. Katsuko had taken her as a silent, calm person. But apparently she could also get angry in such situations.

"A killing game...? This can't be real...", stammered Kisami. He had an expression that showed just how he disgusted he was by Monokuma.

"Why killing? Do you not like us?", Klementia simply seemed sad and confused. Her social skills really were zero. Though Monokuma found this question in particular funny.

"Oh, I like you all very much. That's why I allow you to participate in the first place. And it's very much real." He giggled, amused by the confusion and anger he created.

"Stop lying.", hissed Katsuko. How dare he say that he likes them. How dare he. Katsuko would love to rip him apart. But she would prefer it if someone else did it for her. She liked to keep her head on her shoulders after all.

"Th-this is not what someone does that likes us. Komiya, he's like the devil, right? But he's the king so we should do what he says right? I-I don't want to be murdered. Y-you can surely protect me can't you? We are friends, right? Komiya?", Kano pleaded. She actually recognised Monokuma as 'the king'. That title just didn't sit right with Katsuko. And the way Kano was clinging to Okami was foolish. Friendship doesn't mean much in these conditions. Okami just leaned to her and pat her head.

"Don't worry god watches over all of us.", he assured the girl with the eyepatch.

"Hey waitress girl, don't hog Okami all to yourself! And you bear, what is with you and your twisted form of poetic justice, or whatever that is you are trying here? It' fucking messed up.", protested Toboe, while clinging to one arm of the monk. Said monk didn't seem all that pleased and subtly tried to pry the doctor off of his arm. When that didn't work, Katsuko heard him mumble something that suspiciously sounded like prayers to get away from Toboe.

"Oi, annoying piece of junk, how does your 'killing game' work? It has to have some rules after all you were talking about rules earlier. I feel like you're messed up enough to draw this out for your shitty amusement, aren't you, you ugly pile of scrapped trash?", added Irina, trying to aggravate said pile of trash. The target himself didn't react to the insults at all, just nodding instead.

"You are right about the rules! Here take these. These are your Mono-IDs! In this kingdom life is dependant on them. After all they contain the laws of this kingdom, and therefore the rules of the killing game!", Monokuma replied cheerfully. He got up from his throne, holding a bunch of tablets. He walked around and gave everyone one. Katsuko was one of the last to receive hers. When she pressed the on button, her name glowed up for a second. After that there was a menu. The options were: map, profiles, laws and settings. She decided to check everything else out before she would read the 'laws'.

Pressing on the map, she saw an accurate map of everything she already knew. The rooms that were locked earlier were outlined, but contained a "?" instead of a symbol representing the room. The Monotower's symbol was Monokumas head. It was gross. She looked over to the dormitories. Apparently both were towers. The circle was labled with a symbol signalling a dormitory and 0F. Next to it, not attached to the rest of the map were three more circles. One labelled -1F and the others 1F and 2F in the latter ones were each four rooms and stairs in the middle. Katsuko concluded that the dormitories each had 4 floors. Two for the rooms and two common rooms. According to the map the rooms the males were staying in had Haiyu, Daiki, Toboe and Kisami in 1F and Okami, Calem, Suingu and Jiro in 2F. The girls were parted into Ayumi, Miku, Irina and Klementia in 1F and herself, Kano, Airi and Ayaka in 2F. So her room was on the top floor of the dormitory. That suited her just fine. It meant only half the amount of people would pass by her room.

Katsuko pressed the back button to get back to the menu. She opened up the profiles. She checked multiple ones and concluded that they only had information she already had. Since hers was the most filled out and detailed. The others most often only had the name, the talent and any stuff they had said about themselves. These were useless, so she went back and opened the settings instead. There was nothing much there. She could set the colour theme of her what was it again? "Mono-ID", right.

So finally she went to look at the rules Monokuma had set for their life here. Oh joy, Katsuko thought sarcastically.

•I• Subjects may reside only within the kingdom. Leaving it will be seen as desertion.

•II• "Night time" is to be from 10pm to 7am. Some areas are off-limits at night. A list of all off-limit rooms can be found at any time in the Monotower. Entering these areas at night will be seen as revolting against the king.

•III• Sleeping anywhere but the assigned dormitories will be seen as an unforgivable insult towards King Monokuma, who lovingly assigned them.

•IV• Portraits next to the dormitory door signal the assignment. Trespassing one not assigned to yourself is strictly forbidden.

•V• You are free to visit others rooms within your dormitory. You are also free to explore the building within the restrictions. Exceptions are areas assigned to genders. Those shall only be entered by the specified gender. Ignoring this will be seen as sexual harassment.

•VI• Locked rooms and areas shall not be forcefully opened. Doing so will be seen as espionage.

•VII• Violence against King Monokuma or the security cameras and monitors will be regarded as an attempted assassination of the king.

•VIII• Anyone who murders a fellow subject and gets away with it will be awarded knighthood. Anyone who achieved knighthood may leave. Anyone who murders more than two fellow subjects will immediately be exposed.

•IX• Once a murder takes place, subjects will participate in a trial determining the identity of the murderer. In case the murderer is exposed he will be charged for his crime. If the trial deters the wrong subject the murderer, all except the actual culprit will be charged with the crime instead.

•X• Subjects that are obedient and please King Monokuma may be raised to be nobility. Nobility will be treated better than the rest of the subjects. Subjects that displease Monokuma may be ranked down to be peasants. Peasants will receive worse treatment than the rest of the subjects.

•XI• Desertion, revolting, insulting the king, trespassing, sexual harassment, espionage, assassination (attempted or otherwise) of the king and murder will be punished with execution.

•XII• King Monokuma may change, add and subtract rules at any time.

She had known they would be ridiculous but this was... if you did anything wrong you'd be killed. These were beyond unreasonable. This was pure insanity. And what was with the whole nobility and peasant thing? Just what the fuck?

"These rules are so cruel. You don't seem to have any regard for human life at all.", cried Haiyu in one of the saddest voices Katsuko had ever heard.

"You can't be serious...", thought Katsuko out loud.

"I'm plenty serious! As serious as a dead dog! Wait are dead dogs serious? Probably.", giggled Monokuma. Now he made jokes about dead dogs? No, no it didn't surprise Katsuko anymore. This bear was nuts.

"Dear god, please send your blessings and watch over us in this situation. May we all be able to look forward to a brighter tomorrow...", Okami prayed like the monk he is. Seriously this guy was practically praying all the time with that weird smile on his face.

"I'm not sure if I should laugh or be scared right now." , commented Suingu, who continued to read the rules over and over. He didn't want to miss a single thing. Katsuko, too reminded herself to look at the rules again later. She needed to memorise them if possible.

Suddenly someone started to move slowly through the crowd, gaining speed. Katsuko, on reflex, ran after the person. After going around Daiki and Klementia, she saw that it was Miku, who was now full on charging towards Monokuma.

"No way I'll let myself be ordered around like that. I'll show you, you pipsqueak!", she yelled. Miku would get herself killed, but Airi was standing in the way, a few meters in front. She would loose too much speed going around her, since there were other people blocking the way. She needed to reach Miku, who made it through the last people and had a free path to Monokuma. Everyone was too shocked to move. Katsuko started running. If she couldn't go around Airi, she would go over her instead. At the right distance she jumped and front flipped over Airi, knocking over her top hat. She reached Miku and grabbed her arm just as she swung to punch Monokuma.

"I know how you feel but it's not a rational thought. Maybe I'm just a coward, but I'm a coward so I'll survive.", advised Katsuko. She let go of Miku and immediately went back to the others. Why did she do that? Didn't she want to have as much distance between that monster and her as possible? Katsuko mentally scolded herself for butting in and tried to ignore the eyes on her. Some in admiration, some in wonder, some in approval or thanks. She just wanted to disappear. She blamed it on instincts she had in the past. Back before the tragedy. Before Hope's Peak. Instincts she had because of things she didn't want to remember.

"Ohohoh, you almost broke the rules just now! You know I want to avoid unnecessary corpses on the first day! It would reflect badly on my capabilities as your most beloved king.", Monokuma commented on Mikus actions.

"You aren't 'most beloved' by anyone. Filth.", taunted Irina.

"I think his train of thought is rather trashy, too.", Klementia agreed, nodding.

"Upupu, thank you for your compliments, my loyal subjects. That was all for today! Enjoy your life here! Ah also it is close to night time, so you should probably go to sleep soon. Bye bye." Monokuma excused himself, disappearing as fast as he had come.

"Damn this cursed bear finally disappeared.", Airi said relieved. Her posture was a little less stiff than before. She also had her top hat back on, so she must have picked it up again.

"I'm tired. Why don't we gather tomorrow in the dining hall to discuss things?", suggested Jiro yawning. He wasn't the only one tired. Katsuko could see it in the was people held themselves. While Monokuma had been here everyone had been on alert, but now they slowly realised how tired and worn out they actually were.

"Shit, you want to sleep here? Are you serious?", Ayaka questioned.

"Yes I am, Ayaka. There is no point in forcing ourselves. We haven't found an exit earlier and we still won't if we go on all night. It'll just be exhausting.", Jiro explained. He had a point.

"I think it's a great idea to discuss this tomorrow as friends. This way we will definitely be able to stop it.", Haiyu cheered.

"Fine. Then I'll see you hotties tomorrow morning in the dining hall."

"Let's hope that we can do something about this tomorrow.", Toboe and Ayumi agreed.

"I-I'll come too!", agreed Daiki. He seemed less nervous in the prospect of meeting up with a group.

"I will say this once. I don't trust any of you, so don't expect me to be around. I'm going to my room. Don't bother following me.", Kisami interjected sternly. He didn't even wait for reactions. He just turned around and left first. Katsuko had to admit that he had a point. But there were people she had to get friendly with. Connections would definitely get useful in the future. One way or another.

"I agree with Kisami." Miku had similar thoughts, though she stayed long enough to hear the opinions of others.

"There's no harm in trying to come up with plans though, right Miss Akiyama?", Calem disagreed. From what Katsuko had heard from him he certainly lived up to his title. He was the first place on her list of people to get friendly with.

"I'm still scared, so I think we should stick together!", Kano squeaked. That girl was just annoying. Tomorrow before going to that meeting Katsuko had to finalise her list. Hopefully she had something to write in her dorm room. Miku sighed.

"I will show up to the dining hall meeting. But don't expect me to suddenly be all buddy-buddy.", Miku gave in. The rest slowly agreed as well and everyone went on to their dorms.

Katsuko was standing in front of a door with a pixelated image of herself. She opened her room and closed the door behind her, locking it. Tomorrow it would begin. She would need all the rest she could get. Playing nice to all these people would be exhausting. But she would do it. It was for survival.

"Fine.", she grinned.

As long as it was for survival she would do anything. Even going along with this charade for a while.

* * *

I apologize for the wait. :) Here is the new chapter! I hope you enjoyed it. Some of the interactions and conversation might be a little bit awkward, due to me being tired and not knowing how to write it any better. If something is too awkward I will edit it later. The poll on my profile is still going, if you want to vote for your favorite characters. I will close it when I'm posting the next chapter so yeah. Have a nice day. ^^


	6. Side Naegi: The broadcast

Hey there, here is a short Naegi chapter. They will probably always be just this length. I can get enough information in and it doesn't really take long to write this length(700-1k words) so yeah. I'm also working on the next chapter delingently. Since this is just a Naegi chapter I will still leave the poll open. Anyway. I finally planned the whole first chapter out and part of the second, so it's just a matter of writing. I will try to update at least once a month, but I can't promise anything. I sometimes suddenly get very busy.

I hope you enjoy this short view in whats going on on the other side of things.

* * *

Having thoughts about the hut got Naegi in a bad mood. It didn't help that he had a bad feeling about today. Deciding that it was no use moping in his room, he got up and headed for lunch.

The dining hall was almost empty. No wonder. He was rather late after all. Just a few people he didn't know that well yet and Byakuya, who also had the day off, were there. The others must be back to work already. He went over to the buffet got some food and sat down at Byakuyas table. The guy just looked up from the book he read, scoffed and went back to reading. Naegi sighed. That was typical Byakuya, alright. Though Naegi noticed that the book he was reading was „So Lingers The Ocean", he decided not to comment on that. While eating he watched TV. There were multiple in the room for entertainment. Just three programs were actually still broadcasting (thanks to the future foundation), but it was better than nothing. At least it made everyone feel like there was a tiny bit of normalcy left in this world.

While watching some random anti-despair commercial, his bad feeling from earlier that day came rushing back at full force. He swallowed what he had in his mouth and poked his fork in his food. Would the world someday be back the way it was? He hoped so. Heck, they all hoped so. Making some patterns in his mashed potatoes, he thought about the Remnants of Despair. Once they were rehabilitated and back in society, he would truly feel like this world was curable. Their recovery was a bright ray of hope shining towards them. Sighing, Byakuya put his book down.

"What are you in such a mood for?", he asked Naegi, stoic as ever.

"I just have a bad feeling, is all."

"Irrational. This is the safest place in this world at the moment. Our work is also slowly taking a hold of society. It is only a matter of time." With that Byakuya was obviously done, since he went back to reading immediately. Naegi gave an awkward smile. Was that Byakuyas way of comforting someone? But at least he knew Byakuya was right. He had seen it himself. And wasn't he usually one of the most hopeful people? Even he could have a bad day. So maybe it was just that. Yeah, probably.

 **BRZZZT**

Suddenly the TV program got cut off. In it's place was static. Was there a problem with the broadcast? The picture cleared and Naegi froze. No, no it couldn't be. This couldn't be happening. No no no no no no. Byakuya noticed Naegis shocked state.

"What is it this time?", he asked. All Naegi could do was point at the monitor. Byakuya looked over , his eyes going wide. There on the monitor was a black and white bear staring straight into the camera. Byakuya snapped out of it first and started barking orders.

"YOU OVER THERE! GO AND GET EVERY SINGLE AVAILABLE MEMBER! NOW! Naegi, watch what happens, I'll get Kirigiri und something to record this." Naegi just nodded, eyes fixed on the screen in front of him. The bear now waved at the camera.

"Hello there!~ Welcome dear viewers to this totally awesome new experience! Are you all excited?", the voice that still haunted Naegis nightmares started speaking. No, he wasn't excited. He was scared, his feeling had been right after all, "Yes? You all know what's happening, right? Of course you do! A new season of the super despairing killing game is about to begin! This time with a new theme. Here you go: The preview you have all been waiting for!" The camera proceeded to glide through what appears to be a castle. It was only illuminated by candles. And Naegi could count 16 unconscious people lying everywhere. Whenever the camera entered a new room the name of the room showed up and the people that were lying there were shown and introduced.

By now a bunch of people hurried into the room, looked at Naegi as if to validate what they were seeing.

"It has begun again.", was all he said, sounding determined. He had to leave his own fear behind. These people needed him.

This time the future foundation would save the victims without fail. Naegi would make sure of that.


End file.
